Giving the honest and brutal truth

For the first time since 2002, the Oakland Raiders are over .500 and have a 3 game winning streak heading into the bye week with a 5-4 record. After a huge overtime win over the much improved Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders have developed a swagger that hasn’t been seen since that illustrious Super Bowl run back in 2002. In that overtime win, there were numerous opportunities where the Chiefs could have put away the Raiders for good.

End of the second quarter for example: Matt Cassel drives the Chiefs down to the Raiders 5 yard line with only 30 seconds left in the quarter. Cassel drops back to pass, throws a would-be touchdown pass only to watch it bounce out of his receivers hands and into a Raiders defender. The Chiefs were up 10-0 and could have gone up 17-0 to end the half.

4th quarter, Raiders punt returner Nick Miller looks like he his tackled on the Raiders 20 yard line even though he fumbles it and the Chiefs recover it. The play is reviewed and even with evidence showing that Miller’s knee is down before the ball is knocked out of his hands, the play stands and the Chiefs take over on the Raiders 20. Cassel throws a touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe which puts the Chiefs up 20-17 with 3 minutes left to go in the game. The old Raiders would have normally admitted defeat and just shut down the rest of the game. But it wouldn’t happen this time. Jacoby Ford saves the team on several phenomenal catches and puts the Raiders in field goal position with time running down on the clock. Raiders kick the field goal and send the game into overtime. They’ve got the momentum and the swagger going into overtime at this point.

Chiefs receive the ball first and every Raider fan fears that they’ll drive the length of the field and kick an easy field goal for the win. But the Raiders much improved defense forces a 3 and out and the Raiders take over on their own 30 yard line. First play, Jason Campbell throws a 50 yard bomb to Jacoby Ford who reels it in for a catch and puts the Raiders in position for a 35 yard field goal try. Field goal is good, and the Raiders win an emotional roller coaster game that in years past they normally would have blown time and time again. But this is a different team that’s producing different results, BETTER, WINNING results. But heading into the bye, the Raiders shouldn’t feel content, they should feel hungry for more, and my gut feeling, they will.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 12th, 2010 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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